Getting there...

Well, we're making progress.  My son is pretty much back to normal (why do kids bounce back so much faster than the adults in their lives?), and my hubby and I are at least able to sit up for longer than 5 minutes at a time!  Whew!  This one was a doozy!!  I'm off work again today in the hope of being able to return tomorrow.  Lousy timing for all of this...I had to cancel a workshop last night and am missing an important meeting today.  Ah well, I'm sure the others who were at both events would have rather I didn't bring my germs to contaminate them all!
Now, enough whining...here is a cute card I made last week for my sister-in-law who is expecting her first baby in September.  The design for this card is not my own...I CASED it from Ellen Kemper's blog.  You really need to check her out if you haven't already!  I made a couple of changes to the arm and hand, which I'll explain below.

Punch Art Mommy-to-be

Ah...I remember those days well...days of huge bellies and swollen feet.  Not anything I miss, let me tell you!  The how-to assemble this preggo lady is on Ellen's blog here.  I made just a couple of changes to the arm and hand.  For the arm, I used my photo corner punch by punching once and then repunching around the first hole.  I then trimmed the corner, rounding it slightly so it looked a bit more like an elbow.  For the hand, I punched the little flower from the Itty Bitty punch pack and trimmed it so that only three petals were left.  The rest is a complete CASE from Ellen...she is a genius!!

The assembly of the actual card is pretty straightforward.  The DSP is from the Nursery Suite pack.  The "o Baby" sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny wishes set (Hello Baby stamp) and I just coloured the part of the stamp I wanted with my pear pizzazz marker.

On the inside of the card (no photo...sorry!) I stamped a bunch of baby gear from the Baby Bundle set around the outer edge of the card in pear pizzazz ink and then stamped the "So Happy for you" sentiment from the SAB set of the same name.

My SIL loved it.  It was the first baby-related card she had received.  I gave it to her with a couple of books that I found really helpful during my pregnancy.  Can't wait to spoil this little one silly!

Spring is in the air...

The weather this week has been gorgeous!  I was out on Thursday and Friday with no jacket and my almost-4-year-old son hopped on his bike and was flying around our court in only a light sweater.  We still have a mountain of snow in the centre of the court, where the plows have been piling it all winter, but it is getting smaller and smaller every day.  Inspired by all this nice weather and the fact I have three workshops and two monthly clubs in the next seven days, I worked on some Easter/spring-themed projects.  For the ones I'm going to show you today, I pulled out one of my very favourite DSP's from the catalogue:  Nursery Suite!!  I love the colours and patterns in that paper and they are so perfect for springtime cards.  They work especially well for Easter...check these out!

I just love those little bunnies!!  So Cute !  (By the way, that's also the name of the stamp set that coordinates with this paper!)

Inside of Nursery Suite Easter card...I looked at it and thought..."Gee, that's a cute cardfront", so...

Here it is!  A quick and easy Easter card that will likely make it into my Spring Stamp-A-Stack line-up!

Aren't those paper patterns just the sweetest??  Both of these cards went together pretty quickly and easily...here are the deets:

Card 1:  Using the so saffron bunny patterned paper from the Nursery Suite pack, I cut a piece that included 4 complete bunnies (nothing like spare bunny parts to ruin your Easter fun!).  I layered that on a slightly larger piece of regal rose cardstock and then layered that on a slightly larger piece of chocolate chip.  Setting that aside, I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of chocolate chip cardstock and a 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" piece of so saffron DSP and layered them.  I took a piece of so saffron grosgrain ribbon (retired, from SAB a couple of years ago!), wrapped it around the layers and secured the ends using glue dots.  I then took a so saffron flower brad, wrapped the prongs around the ribbon and stuck it through the cardstock layers, opening the prongs on the back to secure the brad.  I then adhered the entire piece to a regal rose card base.  I added my bunnies and then stamped the sentiment (from the Something to Celebrate level two hostess set in the mini), punched it out and adhered it below the brad.
For the inside of the card, I cut a strip of the striped patterned DSP and adhered it along the right side of the card.  I stamped the little bunny from the So Cute set in chocolate chip cardstock, punched it out using my 1 1/4" circle punch and then layered it on a 1 3/8" circle in regal rose.  I adhered it using dimensionals.  I really liked the look of this, so I did a second card, making the inside of this one into the front of the new one!

Card 2:  Starting with a regal rose card base, I ran it through my Big Shot using the perfect polka dots embossing folder.  I cut a strip of the striped patterned DSP and adhered it along the left side of the cardfront.  I then stamped the little bunny from the So Cute set in chocolate chip ink on so saffron cardstock.  I punched him out using my 1 1/4" circle punch and layered it on a 1 3/4" scalloped circle in regal rose and then a 2" circle in chocolate chip. I adhered it using dimensionals.  I stamped the sentiment, from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set, in chocolate chip ink on so saffron cardstock, punched it out using my word window punch and layered it on a modern label in chocolate chip.  I threaded an itty bitty clear button with white embroidery floss, tied a bow and adhered it to the sentiment piece using a glue dot.  I then adhere the sentiment using dimensionals.  How fast and easy was that?!?